New Delhi: Syed Haidar Raza, modern
Indian painter, has fetched Rs 4.07 crore for one of his
earliest works "Bharatiya Samaroh" which topped the recent
Saffronart`s 2010 autumn online auction.

Held on September 9-10, the auction which offered a
collection of 90 works by 43 modern and contemporary Indian
artists, registered 70 percent sales grossing Rs 29 crores, a
tad short of the lowest total pre-sale estimate of Rs 29.5
crores.

Influenced by European painters such as Cezanne, Van
Gogh, Picasso and Gaugain, Raza had over the years created a
style of his own. The "Bharatiya Samaroh", is one of his
earliest and largest fractured geometric paintings which
highlights distinct symbols in differently patterned squares
coming together to form a whole construct.

His 1998 canvas fetched Rs 4.07 crore more than the
expected higher estimate of Rs 3.72 crore. Raza had previously
in June this year set a world auction record for modern Indian
art when his 1983 painting "Saurashtra" was sold at Christie`s
London for USD 3,486,965 (Rs 16,2387474.7).

It broke the previous record held by the master artist
for "La Terre" which sold for Rs Rs 8.56 crore on June 30,
2008.

While Saffronart`s auction itself fell short of its
pegged total high estimate of Rs 39 crores, 51 per cent of the
lots were auctioned in competitive bidding for more than
their higher estimate.

The top lots include Jogen Chowdhury`s "Couple I - Man
and Woman" which sold for Rs. 1.60 crores (USD 354,583) and F
N Souza`s "Last Howl from the Cross" which sold for for Rs.
1.55 crores (USD 345,000).

"We are very happy with the response... The sale saw
strong prices achieved across the board as well as sustained
bidding from serious and mature collectors and this is a very
positive message for the market," Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and
Co-founder Saffronart, said in a statement.

"The art market continues to show strength and we will
continue to witness interest in the works of renowned Indian
artists in the coming auctions. Our performance is testament
to our focus on presenting some of the best Modern and
Contemporary Indian art to the world."

Following the successful world record sale by
Saffronart in its summer sale for Jehangir Sabavala`s work
"The Casuarina Line I", this season`s offering of Jehangir
Sabavala included an earlier canvas work titled `Icarus` which
also crossed the Rs 1 crore mark closing at Rs 1.16 crores
(USD 258,762).